It Could Have Been Me
by RosieShiba
Summary: While waiting for Reggie to return one evening, Paul and Dawn start talking about the future... Ikarishipping! One-shot.


Hey there. This is a little thing I wrote for a bit of fun. Ikarishipping of course since the pairing is soooo good :). Please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes, I am from Yorkshire so please beware we speak different English to other people :) This is my first attempt at Pokémon fanfiction T_T Please don't be mean!

One more thing: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, sadly.

**

* * *

**

Could Have Been Me

The light was on. For some reason Dawn found this odd as she walked past Reggie's house. Why would a light be on in one of the room on the upstairs? Reggie rarely was upstairs at this time. It was seven o'clock – the Pokémon's feeding time – so he would be in the kitchen or downstairs.

Dawn opened the gate of the Shinji house and slipped into the garden. She walked up the garden path and knocked on the front door. There was no answer. She knocked again. Still no answer. Where was Reggie? Usually he would shout come in or poke his head round to see who it was, but tonight there was nothing. No noise. No movement. Nothing.

Dawn let out a loud sigh. She was just about to hop off the step and go back towards the gate when the lock clicked and the door swung open.

"What are you doing here?"

Dawn froze as she recognised that voice. Slowly, mechanically she turned to see Paul stood in the door way. He was scowling at her but she was used to him scowling. She'd worry more if he didn't scowl then if he was.

"Sorry," she said, rubbing her head, "I just wondered if Reggie was in."

"He's not," Paul replied and with that he went to shut the door.

"When will he be back?" Dawn asked, following the view of Paul as the door was slowly closed. The door was swung back open.

"He went to the Pokémart for some food," Paul replied, "He shouldn't be too long."

"OK," Dawn said, "Thanks. I'll pop back later."

"You could wait for him here," Paul suggested in his deadpanned tone, "He's been gone fifteen minutes already. I can't imagine he'd be much longer."

"If you don't mind," Dawn said. Paul stood to the side so that she could walk into the house. She slipped her shoes off and walked barefoot on the wooden floor. Paul slipped into some slippers and walked her through to the living room.

"I thought you were in Kanto," Dawn said. Paul nodded. "Did you manage to defeat Brandon?"

"Yes," Paul replied. Dawn squealed with excitement.

"I knew you'd be able to," she said, "That's great. Did you take the Frontier Challenge too?"

"Yes," Paul said with a nod.

"How did you do?" she asked.

"I got all seven medals," Paul replied. Dawn squealed again. Paul was growing fed up of the blunette but knew his brother would return soon. Rather, he hoped his brother would return soon. Knowing Reggie, he probably made a detour to the Veilstone Gym so he could see Maylene.

Stupid Maylene.

Paul sat down on one of the sofas. A Shinx jumped up onto the seat beside him. It curled up next to him and purred as he scratched behind its ears. Dawn watched Paul with curiosity. Since when did Paul give Pokémon such treatment? Maybe this wasn't the real Paul, Dawn thought, maybe someone in Kanto had replaced Paul with an impostor. She crept up to Paul and scrutinised him. He looked at her, eyebrows knitted together.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Dawn blushed. She jumped back.

"Nothing," she replied quickly, rubbing her head. She sat down on the sofa. Shinx had sprawled out beside Paul, enjoying being petted. Paul watched the small blue Pokémon with a blank expression. Dawn didn't realise she was leaning towards Paul until he looked at her again. She was a few centimetres away from his chin.

"What are you doing?" he asked again. Dawn rubbed her head and sat up straight. She looked around the room, hoping to find something to distract Paul from her strange behaviour.

"Wow," she said suddenly, pointing to a picture on the fireplace, "Who's that? She's pretty."

"My mother," Paul replied. Dawn jumped to her feet and went for a better look at the photo. She saw a pretty woman with deep purple hair. It was almost indigo.

"She's beautiful," Dawn said, "What was she like?"

"I don't know," Paul replied, "She died when I was two when she got a fever."

"That's so sad," Dawn said, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Paul told her. Dawn twiddled her thumbs for a few seconds before she awkwardly walked to the sofa and sat back down.

Where was Reggie? He couldn't leave her too long with Paul on her own could he? He wasn't that cruel was he? He probably nipped into the gym to see Maylene since he's so deeply, madly in love with her but would never admit it.

Stupid Reggie.

"What are the odds that Reggie has gone to see Maylene?" Dawn asked. Paul glanced at her, a smirk on his lips.

"High," he replied. Dawn giggled.

"He's so madly in love with her, it's embarrassing," Dawn agreed.

"He's been like it since she took over the gym years ago," Paul said, "He used to follow her everywhere like a lost little Mareep."

"With that twinkle in his eyes," Dawn added. Paul nodded. "I wish he'd just tell her."

"It's not that easy," Paul said seriously. Dawn blinked a few times before she frowned.

"Why isn't it?" she asked.

"It took my dad three years to even speak to my mum," Paul told Dawn, "And Reggie is exactly like my dad."

"It's in his genes then?" Dawn asked with a slight giggle, "Three years? Seriously?"

"And that was to even talk to her," Paul said, "It took him a further two to ask her out."

"No way!" Dawn yelled, "How long did it take them to get engaged?"

"Six months," Paul replied, "But only because mum asked dad."

"What?" Dawn asked, shocked, "That's so weird."

"Mum got fed up of waiting," Paul explained, "So she just went for it."

"I like your mum," Dawn said, "She's cool. Wait… If Reggie's like your father, then you must be like your mother, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Paul said with a nod.

"A girl version of you," Dawn said thoughtfully. She creased into manic laughter as she imagined Paul as a girl. Of course it didn't take much. He had long enough hair, all he needed was a dress and some mascara and the image was complete. Paul let out a sigh as a vein throbbed in his forehead.

"Sorry," Dawn said as she stopped laughing, "It was just a funny thought."

The two of them fell quiet as they heard some noise in the kitchen. However, it was just Weavile walking about the house. The ice type looked at his trainer and the blunette girl, half wondering why they were getting on so well with each other.

"Wea vile," it stated and walked back into the kitchen. Dawn and Paul fell back into silence for a few minutes until Dawn giggled once again. Paul glanced at her.

"What?" he asked.

"It's nothing," she replied. Paul kept staring at her until she laughed again. "OK, I was imagining you looking after Reggie's and Maylene's kids."

"Oh god no," Paul said putting his hand over his eyes and wrinkling his nose in total disgust.

"I came to that conclusion too," Dawn agreed. She giggled as Paul shot her a glare. "I bet they'd you love to ickle tiny pieces and call you 'Uncle Paulie'. They'd hug your legs and always badger you for ice cream. I'm thinking about three of them."

"Shut up," Paul mumbled, "It's too painful to think about."

He let out a sigh as he sank into the sofa. He had returned to scratching Shinx behind the ear. Dawn smiled at Paul.

"And there'd be sleep overs," Dawn continued, "And Bambi."

"No," Paul snapped, "Not Bambi."

Dawn howled when she saw the fear in his eyes at the mention of Bambi. Paul scowled at her. Weavile and Frosslass poked their heads round the door to see what the commotion was about. They looked at the two teens before looking at each other and shrugging. They disappeared back into the kitchen.

"And then you'd have to take them to theme parks," Dawn said, "And get them candy floss and ride the tea cups with them and win them prizes otherwise they'd emotionally black mail you."

"I get it," Paul snapped. Shinx looked up at the purple haired teen. Paul let out another sigh. Dawn giggled as she relaxed into the sofa. They fell silent again. Shinx kept looking between the two, wondering what was going on.

"Uncle Paulie," Dawn muttered as she chuckled to herself.

"Shut up," Paul growled.

"You know what you have to do, don't you?" Dawn asked. Paul blinked as the blunette lent forwards. "You need to learn how to give piggy backs and aeroplane rides."

"What?" Paul asked.

"If you're going to be an uncle," Dawn replied knowingly, "Do you want to be the fun uncle _or_ the one your nieces and nephews would be ashamed of?"

"…The fun uncle?" Paul said but it sounded more like a question. Dawn nodded none the less.

"That's right," she said. Paul felt his shoulders sag. Suddenly he jumped to his feet and walked round the room. He glanced at the picture of his mother and folded his arms.

"Hmm…" he said, "I have an even better idea…"

Dawn looked confused but leaned in to see what Paul was planning…

* * *

"UNCLE REGGIE!" three young toddlers chorused as they walked up to their most favourite uncle in the world. Reggie glanced down at his two nephews and niece with a pained expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" he asked reluctantly.

"I want ice cream!" yelled his oldest nephew.

"I wanna piggy back ride!" shouted his niece.

"Can I play with the Pokémon?" asked his younger nephew. Reggie felt like curling up into a ball and crying. What did he do to deserve this?

Paul walked into the kitchen and saw the pained expression on his older brother's face. He couldn't help but smirk.

"Hey, Uncle Reggie," the eldest said, "Did you know there's a fair in the park? Can we go?"

"Yeah," the niece agreed, "I want to win a biiig toy."

"And I want candy floss!" the youngest chorused. Reggie glared over at his brother as Paul leant in the doorway. Paul was smirking at his brother's torture, enjoying and savouring every second of it.

"Yeah, we'll go this evening," Reggie told the children. They yelled in happiness before running outside to play in the back garden. Reggie let out a long sigh before he looked at his brother. "I hate you."

"What ever for?" Paul asked, feigning innocence.

"For having three ruthless children," Reggie replied, "Who love to play on my emotions so I do what ever they want me to."

"Maybe you should've hurried up and asked Maylene out then," Paul told him. Reggie flustered. "I did warn you."

"I know you did!" Reggie yelled.

"Something wrong?"

The two guys turned to see that Dawn had appeared in the doorway next to Paul, carrying another baby in her arms. This one, unlike the other three, looked totally angelic and innocent. He was Reggie's favourite up til now. No doubt the baby would turn out like the other three. Paul turned and took the baby out of Dawn's hands.

"I'm sorry about this," Dawn said, "But I'm working and Paul's training. He is the Champion you know."

"I know," Reggie said. Any other time Reggie would have been proud of his younger brother, but not at this minute in time when he was about to be dumped with the three little angel-demons that were his niece and nephews. Dawn flashed Reggie an apologetic smile.

"They really do love you to ickle tiny pieces, you know," Dawn told Reggie, "They think you're the best uncle in the whole wide world and no one could do a better job than you."

"I know," Reggie said while comical tears streamed down his cheeks. Paul smirked once more as he shouted for the kids to say goodbye. They yelled goodbye from where they were standing and went back to playing. Dawn pecked Reggie on the cheek before leaving with Paul.

Paul couldn't help but smirk as they walked through the streets of Veilstone City. Dawn had the baby back in her arms. She caught Paul's expression and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Stop that," she told him. Paul closed his eyes but continued to smirk.

"I can't help it," Paul replied, "When I think, it could have been me."

***back at the house***

"Uncle Reggie… can we watch Bambi?"

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Yeah... it can ran off with me at the end. Anyway, please tell me what you think :)

RSx


End file.
